BRINGING REGULATORS TOGETHER FOR THE BENEFIT OF CONSUMERS AND THE ECONOMY

Strategy

Our strategy for 2017/20 proposes a new objective, to: facilitate cooperation and communication between our members to promote better outcomes in economic regulation for consumers and the economy. This new objective better reflects the significant and strategic role of the UKRN as well as the breadth of our impact, capitalising on the benefits that our members value the most from being a part of the network.

The UKRN facilitates cooperation and communication between its members, to promote better outcomes in economic regulation for consumers and the economy.

The UKRN provides a unique opportunity for regulators to inform and contribute to policy debates and cross-sector regulatory issues as well as sharing information and experience. The network facilitates a learning culture, encouraging the sharing of best practice in order to push the frontier in regulation for the benefit of consumers, investors and the UK economy.

To deliver our strategic objective, we defined 6 principles which we call our ‘ways of working’. These highlight how cooperation and communication are integral to achieving benefits for our members and better outcomes for our consumers and the economy.

We are a voice for economic regulation – We help our members to speak as one, where appropriate on cross cutting issues, and act as a point-of-contact for engagement with consumers and stakeholders.

We inform and contribute to innovation and best practice in regulation – We work together to identify and consider current and future matters of common interest, including cross-sector issues, and work together to develop consistent best practice in economic regulation.

We champion success – We champion the role and value of UK independent regulation through our events and publications.

We support flexible and efficient regulation – We make best use of expertise and resource amongst our members and we identify opportunities for working with others.

Our members have strong relationships – We share information and experience on common issues to promote strong working relationships and collaboration.

We support consistent approaches to competition – We work closely with UKCN to support consistency across regulators with concurrent powers.

As part of our updated strategy, we have taken a holistic approach to delivering our policy work by bringing together our previously separate policy and engagement work. This is in recognition of how important our internal and external stakeholders are in helping us to learn and evolve in the face of fresh challenges.

Our strategic pillars are:

Current affairs and cross-sector issues

Advocacy for UK regulation

Thought leadership and long-term thinking

Forward Work Programme

Each year, we aim to take forward a select portfolio of projects which deliver across each of our strategic pillars, recognising that the balance of focus may shift in response to external developments.

This year we have structured our programme of work under four themes, which we have identified as common areas of focus for our members. These themes are not independent of one another. There are synergies across all of them.

innovation-friendly regulation

promoting resilient sectors

promoting fairness for all consumers

collaboration and better ways of working

Innovation-friendly regulation – We explore the rise of the data-centric economy and the role of innovation to unlock its value. Big data and its implications are a cross-sector development and collaboration can help to achieve wider benefits. This includes considering the challenges and opportunities it brings to improve consumer outcomes in regulated sectors. We work together to promote debate and facilitate work that can bring positive benefits across sectors.

Promoting resilient sectors – We also collaborate to ensure we promote the resilience of our sectors, working with stakeholders to understand the infrastructure needs of the UK, and how our regulatory practices can facilitate efficient planning and delivery of large scale, long term investment.

Promoting fairness for all consumers – We have made great strides in sharing knowledge and understanding the needs of consumers in vulnerable circumstances across our markets. We also recognise that improving services for customers in greatest need can encourage better customer service across for all customers. We explore where approaches can be expanded in order to create fairer markets for consumers.

Collaboration and better ways of working – Underpinning all this work is ensuring we have appropriate systems, processes and people in place to work together effectively. We are therefore ambitious in developing our people together and exploring approaches to continue to work better together.

Bulletin

We publish a regular UKRN newsletter, which features the latest work, news and events across our network. If you would like to be added to the distribution list, please email ian.stone@ofgem.gov.uk